Watch: Scary Stop-Motion Short Film ‘Everybody Goes to the Hospital’
by Alex Billington
May 16, 2023
“As doctor put on his gloves, I tried to be brave.” Another one-of-a-kind animated short. Everybody Goes to the Hospital is a stop-motion animated short film by a filmmaker named Tiffany Kimmel. Based on a true story, Everybody Goes to the Hospital is a stop motion animated exploration of physical, psychological, and familial trauma, telling the tale of 4-year-old Little Mata as she’s taken to the hospital in late 1963 with appendicitis. “In making this film, I wanted to capture the storybook-like quality that I experienced when hearing this story as a child”, Kimmel states. She also wanted her “mom’s childhood experience to be played out in the doll-like manner she told it, as an unprocessed traumatic fairytale,” whilst also carrying a warning for “others to believe their children and to stay close.” Featuring the voice of Lucia Hadley Wheeler. This is such a hauntingly scary story to tell that it may make you afraid of ever visiting a hospital after watching.
Thanks to Short of the Week for debuting this short online. Brief intro from YouTube: “The tale of 4-year-old Little Mata (writer/director Tiffany Kimmel’s mother) as she’s taken to the hospital in late 1963 with appendicitis.” Everybody Goes to the Hospital is both written and directed by animation filmmaker Tiffany Kimmel – view more of her work on her official website or follow her on IG @nihildeclarandum. She now runs a production company called Nihil Declarandum – “a creative company based in Highland Park. Its mission is to create artist-driven works that tell uncomfortable truths, forgotten histories, and family secrets on a ‘need-to-tell’ basis. Nihil and Friends designs and produces animated and live-action projects that are hand-crafted, emotional, and tactile.” Produced by Charles A. Pieper & McKenzie Stubbert – who also made the music. For more details, visit the film’s official site. To discover more shorts, click here. Your thoughts?
